2013 Dragon Classic: Drake Bushong ties tournament record

On Saturday, I was scheduled to cover the Dunlap Invitational cross country meet, which I did. For any sane person, that would have been the end of the workday, but when I drove past Lick Creek Golf Course on my way home I realized that there was some high school golf happening…and boy am I glad I stopped.

Pekin junior Drake Bushong tied a 12-year-old tournament record by firing a 4-under-par 68, including a ridiculous 32 on what may be the toughest front-9 in the area, at the 28th annual Dragon Classic.

Granted, Bushong plays the front-9 at Lick Creek nearly every day during the high school golf season, but still, birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 6, and 7 sparked a start that was six strokes better than any other player in the 24-team field on the front side.

“It’s tough, but I like it,” Bushong said of the first nine holes.

The Dragon Classic consistently gets some of the best teams, and players, from the downstate area. In fact, talking to one parent of a Pekin player, the tournament has a handful of teams that are on the waiting list with nowhere to put them.

To put it into perspective, former Quincy High and University of Illinois player and current PGA Tour golfer Luke Guthrie won the Dragon Classic with a 70 in 2005. A year earlier, Notre Dame product and former professional golfer Jonathon Krick shot 72 to earn medalist honors.

You have to go back a few more years to 2001 when Pekin standout Justin McKinley shot the tournament record 68. No one has even broke 70 since Normal U-High’s Kyle English shot a 69 in 2008.

“It makes me feel good,” Bushong said of being mentioned with such names. “But you’ve got to keep going, keep getting better. You can’t settle for a good round, you’ve got to keep going.”

Bushong did admit that “this was the best round I’ve had, by far”, but also shared why it came so easy to him on a beautiful day in Pekin.

“The first one I made, it just kind of set it off and I just kept going,” he said. “The hole was looking huge today, so I just had confidence in the putter. I was just hitting every shot good, like I wanted to, and everything just kind of went my way.”

Bushong also helped Pekin to a second-place finish in a deep field. The Dragons finished 13 shots behind team favorite Quincy, who posted four scores in the 70’s.

Quincy was led by Zach Burry’s 2-under-par 70 that was good for second individually and made Pekin coach Bob Neal make the comment, “This may be the first time that anyone’s shot under par, and not won this tournament.”